


What I Did For Love

by quicksilver_nightsky



Series: A to O of Life [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alpha Gladiolus Amicitia, Alpha Noctis Lucis Caelum, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Character Unable To Consent Due To Mating Cycle, Consent Issues, Fuck Or Die, M/M, Mating Bites, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega Ignis Scientia, Omega Prompto Argentum, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 04:46:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16654513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quicksilver_nightsky/pseuds/quicksilver_nightsky
Summary: Omegaverse where Ardyn doesn't exist but the empire still attacks Insomnia.And then one evening, when they were lazily spread around the campfire, when an usual tone sounded from Noct’s phone. There was a pause as he checked it, and then a low, anxious “fuck” escaped his lips.Everyone’s attention was suddenly on him. “Highness,” Iggy said, concerned. “What is it?”“That was my Wellness App,” he said, paling as he put his phone away. “My contraceptive runs out in a week. Reminded me to book an appointment.”





	What I Did For Love

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings:  
> Characters unable to consent due to heat. Differing opinions on rape and consent. POV of a rapist. Vague medical procedures.  
> Something missing? Let me know.

Okay but the thing was. Noct had been in love with Ignis since he was like five years old. Prompto knew this. Gladio knew this. Iggy definitely knew this but for some reason gave Noct the pity of completely ignoring that fact. 

So yes, Prompto knew Noct was in love with Iggy. And he knew Iggy was very fond of Noct - but probably not in the same way. What he could never figure out was why they weren't mated. 

Noctis was an alpha. Everyone at their middle school knew that, when he accidentally went into his first rut during one of their history classes and the gossip mill had travelled fast that day. And Ignis was an omega. Prompto knew this because he'd seen the advisor at the O-clinic, coming out of the procedure room with Prompto's _very own doctor_. At first it had made sense - Ignis was waiting for Noct to come of age before they mated. 

But Noct had turned sixteen and then eighteen and then twenty and still nothing. He saw the hurt in his best friend's eyes and didn't know how to deal with it. People didn't _talk_ about secondary orientations, Prompto felt all squirrelly and guilty that he even knew what Noct's and Iggy's were. So he couldn't exactly go up to the advisor and ask him why he hadn't banged his best friend. 

And then the Citadel had announced Noct's betrothal to the Lady Lunafreya and Prompto thought maybe it made sense. Maybe Iggy knew the whole time that Noct was determined for another. 

So Prompto joined the Crownsguard and determined to follow his best friend off to his new life. Except it hadn't gone that way. The world ended instead. 

Okay that was a little dramatic. Insomnia had fallen, yes, but the world was still going on. Their lives were still going on. Just in a vastly different way. 

Things were different outside the city. Out here, most people knew most people's secondary orientations - because the hormonal medicine was thirty years behind. 

Prompto, like basically every other other A or O in Insomnia, had been on the Tab since he presented. The A-Tab and O-Tab worked the same way - a little implant in the arm that slowly released hormones that limited the natural effects of the secondary orientations to nothing. Cancelling out the scents, the pheromones, and reducing monthly heats to manageable levels that enabled As and Os to get on with their everyday lives. Each Tab lasted six months, and Prompto had gotten his latest a couple weeks before they headed out. 

Outside the city, they were still doing scent blockers and contraceptive pills. Which meant people still went into regular heats or ruts. They said though - when Prompto had dared to ask about it - that the cycles weren't as severe to them? It was the Tabs that made unfulfilled ruts and heats severe-to-fatal for Insomnian As and Os. He learned from Cindy that here, they went through monthly cycles with a few days of increased arousal and fertility - enough to excuse them from everyday activities but not to hospitalise them - without partners to...basically no consequences??? As and Os out here tended to mate early in life because heats and ruts were much more enjoyable with a partner. 

Inside the city, mating was something either by accident, or a conscious choice made by a couple who had been together a while and wanted to take things long-term? A step before proposal even. 

It hadn't mattered. They weren't meant to be out of the city for more than a couple weeks at most. 

And then one evening, when they were lazily spread around the campfire, when an usual tone sounded from Noct's phone. There was a pause as he checked it, and then a low, anxious "fuck" escaped his lips. 

Everyone's attention was suddenly on him. "Highness," Iggy said, concerned. "What is it?" 

"That was my Wellness App," he said, paling as he put his phone away. "My Tab runs out in a week. Reminded me to book an appointment." 

"...shit," Gladio muttered. 

"We'll head to Lestallum," Ignis announced, cool and collected. "With the refugees centering there, the most advanced endocrinologists will be available to us." 

Noct still looked anxious as he nodded, submitting to Ignis's plan. 

*** 

Okay so the other thing was. Prompto was in love with Noct. Not since he was five years old. Probably since he was sixteen and Noct had smiled at him - really genuinely smiled at him, and said "you're kinda cute when you do that." Prompto knew. He figured Ignis probably knew. Noct and Gladio and the rest of the world did not know. And that was how he intended it to remain. He'd been on Team Ignoct forever, because before anything else he wanted his best bud to be happy and healthy and satisfied. 

So yes, Prompto was in love with Noctis. And he knew Noct loved him too, but not in the same way. They were bros. Undying friendship, through thick and thin. He would do literally anything for Noct. 

Which why he was standing at the foot of Noct's bed, wearing Iggy's dirty shirt, and about to become a rapist. 

Lestallum hadn't yielded very helpful results. They didn't have Tabs or anything close to it, not even smuggled out of the city. Chemists were working on it, but it would probably be years until they reclaimed lost formulas. Instead, Noct had been prescribed a daily pill to take "after your next rut". 

To alleviate the symptoms of the repressed heat, they were advised to get him fresh air and a stress free environment and - "someone who could sate him through the worst of it". So off to Cape Caem they went, making themselves at home in the little farmhouse that belonged to the Lucis Caelum family as a sort of retreat, for however long it would take to happen. 

Noct had declined Gladio's two offers: to fetch a willing omega to help him through it, or to offer himself up as a tide-over. Ignis was conspicuously silent on that front and Prompto didn't dare offer. 

But then Noct's rut had actually hit, three weeks after his Tab ran out. And it was so much worse than any of them could have predicted. 

Noct was screaming in pain, unable to sleep, sweating through the _mattress_ , already jerked himself raw in an attempt to reach an orgasm that never came. 

Downstairs, none of them able to ignore the screams, his three retainers sat around in a circle. "We can't leave him like this," Gladio declared. "His fever is getting dangerously high." 

"If we can keep his temperature down," Ignis said, worried, "then he'll get through this unassisted as he desires. He can have six hours left at most, perhaps less. The rut could give at any moment." 

"We should've taken him to a hospital," Gladio grumbled. "They could've sedated him through it." 

It was the standard procedure for As and Os coming off their Tabs, in Insomnia. Sedation in a controlled facility with attendants trained to keep their core temperature down and watch for any danger signs. 

"It's rather too late for that now." 

_He needs an omega_ , Prompto thought desperately, and watched Ignis. Trying to telepathically beg him to give Noct this - give Noct what he had always wanted. 

Ignis regarded him silently in response, then turned to Gladio. "There should be some herbs around the farm. Natural remedies to bring down his temperature. We ought to go find them." 

Gladio met his eyes for a moment, then nodded in answer. He stood, staring down Prompto. "Take care of him," he commanded. "We're leaving this up to you." 

While they headed out, Prompto made a show of filling up a bowl of cold water. But once they were gone, he found himself wandering into the bedroom Ignis and Gladio shared. Herbs, sedation, cold towels - these were all trying to control the symptoms to get him through the rut. There was one remedy better than all of them - the most natural way. 

Noct needed to knot an omega until his body was satisfied it had given a reasonable attempt at breeding. 

Ignis clearly wasn't willing, and Prompto respected him for that. It spoke to the man's character. To respect Noct's wishes. 

Prompto wasn't a good person. Not like Iggy. His first priority - sometimes his _only_ priority was keeping Noct alive. So with a sickness in his gut that told him this was wrong, that he was breaking every moral code they had, he picked up the shirt Ignis had been wearing yesterday and went upstairs. 

_This is rape_ , he thought to himself, as he climbed into the prince's soaked bed. _I am raping my best friend_. But even as the thought made him want to hurl, Noct's scent - his undetectable but otherwise obvious pheromones - were getting to him. Tabbed and all, within moments he was dripping. 

His asshole eased open as the inner channels shifted from expulsion mode to receptive. Clear slick coated his insides and began to dribble out down his perineum and over the sensitive sac of his balls. He swiped some up with his fingers, rubbed around his crack and entrance to ease the way. 

Noct was dazed, mindless, blue eyes frantic and unseeing as he writhed with sheer pain on the bed. Every movement laboured with guilt and self-loathing, he straddled the prince's bare hips and positioned himself over the angry, purpled cockhead. As soon as Noct felt the slickness against his tip he was thrusting desperately up and plunging inside. 

He barely had the sense to choke down the cry of pleasure. Noctis had to enjoy this, long enough to knot them together. Prompto didn't deserve to. How sick would it be if he _enjoyed_ the rape of his best friend, too out of his mind with a hormonal rut to even be able to consent? 

But as Noct pounded up and he rocked his hips in counterpoint, the choice was taken away from him. He was an omega and omega were built to be fucked. His enlarged prostate, the extra sensitivity of his inner walls, the slick that increased sensation and neutralised pain. He came as soon as Noct's knot breached him and locked them together. 

The bonelessness of his first ever penetrative orgasm had him slumping forward against Noct, gurgling something that was probably supposed to be words. 

The alpha's nose shifted into the collar of his shirt and gave a satisfied hum as he scented what his rut addled brain told him was Ignis. 

Prompto sobbed even as he felt Noct's cum begin to coat his insides. He was a rapist. He was raping his best friend. He was enjoying it. And he was betraying two thirds of his friendship group as he did it. Noct thought he was fucking Ignis, and Ignis was now like an accomplice to this. 

He felt trapped, could feel his sick rising, panic choking his lungs. Gasping desperately, he thrashed, trying to get loose, get off, get out. 

Still mindless with rut and overcome by his instincts, Noct reacted like any alpha would. He flipped them so Prompto was underneath, and sunk his teeth into Prompto's neck to calm him down. 

Prompto _felt_ the mating bond flare to life, hooking deep in his chest and tying him unequivocally to Noct as omega and alpha. 

He had one moment. One pure moment to enjoy the absolute ecstatic bliss of the bond, of his soul touching Noct's, of his best friend's pleasure. And then in the next, Noct moaned "Specs!" and he wanted to die. 

Remembering the lessons every child had drilled into them since they were old enough to understand what bonding was, he swiftly acted. Visualised the link between them - like a hose made of light, and _pinched_ it closed a handspan from his chest. Every brilliant sensation went out like a light. 

The bond would remain, tethered between their souls, until a licensed bond adjuster could guide them through the visualisation and meditation necessary to release it. But the important part was to choke the bond as early as possible so it had time to weaken. 

Noct's knot finally, finally, went down and he rolled off, snuggling into the driest spot he could find and settling down to the first natural sleep he'd managed in three days. His rut was over. Prompto had raped it out of him. 

He puked and he scrubbed himself raw and puked again and kept a fierce pinch closed on the bond. Noct could never know. He would put off telling the guys as long as he possibly could. He would keep his secret, this disgusting blight on his character, to himself as much as he was able. It was bad enough he'd done it, he didn't want to deal with the looks they would give him, the disgust in their eyes, the rightful fury. Gladio might actually kill him and he was pretty sure he wouldn't fight it. 

Gladio and Iggy were back when he got out, dressed and assembled as if his life wasn't in pieces on the floor of the bedroom he was supposed to share with Noct when he was well. 

"Noct appears to have gotten through it while we were out searching," Ignis said, giving Prompto a look he couldn't understand. "Very good." 

Noct woke up just in time for dinner. He looked exhausted but there was finally some colour to him again. He shyly looked at Ignis and squeezed his hand, murmuring "thanks, Iggy" in the most grateful voice Prompto had ever heard. 

Ignis gave a gentle smile and a nod. Prompto felt some of Noct's cum seep down his crack. "You're welcome." 

A few days later around the campfire, Prompto announced: "guys if there's ever a situation where I gotta get fucked or I'll die, just do it. I'm giving you all blanket consent here." 

He tries not to understand the knowing look in Ignis's eye, and the solemn nods of the others. He still feels like he can feel Noct's cum deep inside of him, staining him forever with what he'd done. 

*** 

It was general knowledge that both parties needed to be present and actively participating in the severance of a mate bond. When they'd met a bond adjuster in the course of their adventures, he'd asked all sorts of questions under the feign of ignorance. 

What happens if only one party knew about the bond? _Then the second party must be informed so the severance can be completed safely._ What about accidental bonds with strangers? _Very unlikely. Usually there must be a significant emotional connection at least on one side to forge a mating bond._ What about...cases of stalking, and rape? _It doesn't do to think of such things! But to save you asking someone who'll think you have a reason to ask, I'll tell you myself. The attacker will be made to participate in the severance, through law or chemical inducement._ There really was no way to sever the bond without both people working towards it? _Not in my profession, no. Such cases are often lethal to one or both parties._

Telling anyone was an absolute last resort, Noct absolute absolute very last plan ZZZ. But going through a bond adjuster didn't seem likely. 

He did what he always did when he couldn't get the answered he needed by asking around. He plugged it into Moogle. 

He scrolled past pages of panic, fear mongering blogs and news articles saying it always led to the death of the active party, and frequently the permanent injury of the passive one. 

And then finally he came across the website of a Bond Severance Clinic In Altissia. They promised safe, non-lethal bond single-party bond severance in a sterile and controlled environment. The testimonials were from abuse victims and...rape survivors, who couldn't face their monsters again. 

It didn't promise to be painless. Prompto almost didn't want it to be. The disclaimer and sample waiver documents stated that the damage to the active participant was significant-to-severe, and that it frequently caused infertility and lifelong reproductive problems. _Good_ , Prompto thought, scrolling through to the next section, _men like me deserve to be chemically sterilised so we never hurt another person again_. 

The consequences towards the passive participant were next. Prompto hesitated as he read them, but balanced it against the horror and psychological damage Noct would get if he learned Prompto had raped and mate-bonded him when he was at his most vulnerable. Mild mood swings and temporary episodes of depression in the month following the procedure were nothing compared to that. 

Prompto asked, as innocently curious as possible, when did they think they would be getting to Altissia? In time for the Dream Festival? And when Iggy had a ballpark date he booked an appointment at the clinic a week afterwards. 

*** 

They made it to Altissia with a day to spare. After the night at the fanciest hotel imaginable, Prompto pretended to be sick after all the rich food they'd gorged on the night before and begged for a day off. Noct, concerned, had agreed to leave him in peace while they tracked down Weskham and promised to take him out for photoshoots when he felt better. 

As soon as he was alone, he dressed in his comfiest clothes and headed out to the clinic. Even though he was super early for his appointment, the receptionist was happy to deal with him. She read him through all of the paperwork, made sure he knew what he was agreeing to. There were a lot of waivers, in the likelihood of severe consequences to the procedure. As long as he didn't actually die, they were pretty much covered. 

There was an additional warning and pamphlet to peruse that he hadn't spotted on the website. The thing about severing a bond was that it didn't remove the tether in the active party's soul. The prolonged ramifications came from it rotting and withering and dying while still a metaphysical part of him. The passive participant got off easy, once the bond was severed their tether would simply fall away - leaving them mostly unaffected and free to make a new connection whenever they wished. Prompto wouldn't have that privilege but that was okay. He didn't deserve one, not after what he had done. 

The first procedure was simple - they had to remove his O-Tab. The clinic was providing him with a 30-day sample of oral blockers, but he would have to see his regular endo for a proper prescription or a new O-Tab. 

(They had Tabs in Altissia! He couldn't wait to somehow let Noct know.) 

Then there was a long wait in a private procedure room, where the nurse told him to visualise choking and pinching off the bond as much as possible before the procedure. 

He wasn't allowed to be sedated, not while the surgeon made a clean slice of the metaphysical bond with an orichalcum scalpel. The pain and the psychic blowback were unimaginable. Indescribable. They sedated him after that while he was writhing and wailing on the gurney. 

When he came to, it was at least manageable. Not ignorable, but he could push through it. At least until he made it back to The Leville. 

Iggy woke him some time later - when they returned early. "Dear _Six_ , Prompto. You look like death warmed over." 

"Feelsatwaytoo," he slurred together, barely able to lift his head off his pillow. "S'matter? Back early." 

"Well. His highness has been in a foul mood all afternoon. We decided just to come back early." 

Prompto's 'food poisoning' took a good week or so to clear up, and as concerned as they others were he refused to let them call a doctor. "What can they do? Prescribe bed rest and electrolytes? We don't need to pay out the butt for a doctor to tell me that." Prompto now had two maxed out credit cards and a debt he didn't know if he could possibly repay thanks to that little procedure at the clinic. 

And it might have all gone fine. If Iggy wasn't a snoop. 

*** 

Prompto came back into their bedroom at the Leville, camera in hand, only to find Ignis sitting on the bed with the stoniest expression imaginable, and the contents of Prompto's shower bag tipped out on the other bed before him. 

He came to a stop, and swallowed. "Uh…?" 

Fierce eyes were on him. "Take a seat, Prompto." 

Oh gods. He'd found out. He was going to report Prompto to the police or have him exiled or just let Gladio execute him. 

On weak legs, he crossed to the bed beside his things and sat down. He could literally feel himself rotting from the core every moment of the day, but the sickness and fatigue he felt from that was nothing to the queasiness and guilt as he fearfully met the advisor's eyes. 

"I went looking for some aspirin in your bag today," Ignis said, his voice cold. Hard as steel. "But instead, I find _this_." He held up the sheet of pills - his trial samples. "You're going to explain yourself _now_ , Prompto." 

He wrung his hands in the fabric of his jeans. Loose. Too loose these days. He could hardly keep proper food down, and he only ate when the others did because he had no appetite of his own now. "I don't know where you want me to start…" 

Ignis violently tossed the pills onto the ground between them. "Why don't you **start** by explaining how you got ahold of this toxic **sludge** masquerading as an omega repressant?!" He snarled. 

Prompto flinched. He'd never seen Ignis so angry before. "I…" 

"I counted the missing poppers, Prompto. Fifteen days. Since our second day in Altissia." 

He wrung his hands again, anxious. "If you knew when why did you ask…?" 

"I said **where** , Prompto!" Ignis snapped. "And a _why_ would be a good idea while you're at it!" 

He swallowed. "At a clinic, near the Galviano Arena…" he mumbled. 

Ignis's jaw clenched. " _Why_ , Prompto? No wonder you were sick! You're being poisoned by this medication and it's a wonder you've managed to adapt to it at all!" 

He shifted restlessly, still couldn't answer. Ignis was already furious at him. How could he tell him now what a monster he was? 

"Are you using it as a blocker, Prompto?" He asked, his voice calmer but no less stern. "Did your Tab run out?" 

He swallowed. "Kind of…?" He lifted his arm a little, showed the little scar where it had been removed. 

"Prompto, they _have_ adequate Tabs in Accordo!" Ignis despaired. "They're not cheap but you shouldn't have resorted to… We would have given you the funds!" 

Prompto wanted to cry. No. He couldn't take kindness from Ignis now. That would break him. He needed the anger back. "I had a procedure done and they needed to remove the Tab. The repressants are temporary - a single course of medication until I can get a proper prescription, or a new Tab." 

Ignis's eyes were on him, hard. "What procedure?" When he didn't get an answer, he pushed harder: "Prompto, _what procedure_?" 

"I…" He just shook his head, couldn't force the words out. 

"Prompto, you have to tell me. Your health may be severely at risk." He paused. "Was it a secondary change surgery?" He asked carefully. "Because you _know_ those are dangerous without hormone replacement therapies prior to the procedure." 

He curled up on himself. "No," he said weakly. "It was a severance, Okay? I had to sever a mating bond." 

Absolute shock silenced the room. When he dared to raise his eyes to Ignis there was horror in his gaze, but not judgement. "Prompto…" he said, his voice gentle. Like talking to a spooked chocobo. "Who did this to you…?" 

He choked down a sob and stood up, pacing away. "Don't. _Don't._ Don't pity me, it wasn't done to _me!_ I did it to **him**!" 

"Prompto?" Ignis asked, his voice still infuriatingly gentle. 

"I raped him!" He shouted, whirling on Ignis and needing to see the hate, the disgust in his eyes. "He was in rut and he was going to die so I **raped** him to save his life, and we bonded but I could never ever tell him what I'd done to him, how I'd betrayed his friendship, so I came here and I got it one-party severed!" 

Ignis was very carefully watching him, his expression completely unreadable. "You mean to say you mated Noct in Caem." 

"No, don't call it something it's not!" he snarled back. "I **raped** him. I fucking raped my best friend when he was too out of his mind to know it wasn't you he was fucking and mating!" 

Ignis flinched, almost imperceptibly. When he spoke again, it was still decisively calm: "and rather than telling Noctis this, you underwent a dangerous procedure that will inevitably be a detriment to your health for the rest of your life." 

He clenched his fists and turned away. "I deserve to suffer. I'm a monster." 

"Prompto, there is a reason these procedures are outlawed in every other state but Accordo. These medications… they're likely the only thing keeping your endocrine system from completely collapsing. But they are also poisoning you. Not to bring into account the psychic shock of the severed bond. You need both parties and a licensed bond adjuster to safely remove both tethers." 

He knows that. "I knew the risks going in." Even the rotting, dying sensation in his chest isn't enough to make him regret the procedure. 

"And you thought they were lesser than admitting to Noctis what you had to do to save his life." 

He felt a wave of nausea, but he clamped it down. "How am I supposed to have that conversation, Ignis? How am I supposed to tell my best friend I raped him because I didn't want him to die? That he was so out of it he bit me and called me your name?" He would not cry. He would not. Ignis would think he was trying to get sympathy. He didn't want that. He wanted Ignis to hate him, to be disgusted. Like he should. "It should've been you. He's always loved you. It would've all been okay if it was you." 

Ignis gave a tired, heavy sigh. "Prompto, I've been bonded to Gladiolus since I was sixteen years old. It couldn't have been me that day." 

Prompto was reeling with that. Ignis was… bonded. To Gladio. For six years. "Why haven't you ever told Noct?" He demanded, angry on his friend's behalf. 

"We have," Ignis replied, still calm and steady. "When he asked me to bond with him when he presented. We told him the truth: that we had bonded unintentionally but neither of us had any intentions of parting in future. I had hoped his feelings would clear up, naturally move on, but that has not been the case." 

Prompto just took deep breaths, not knowing how to deal with all this information. 

Ignis stood and placed his hand on Prompto's shoulder. "Whatever you have done or think you have done in the past, Prompto, Noctis needs you now. And I am your friend, who refuses to let you poison yourself in some misguided attempt at self-flagellation. I'm taking you to an endocrinologist now and we will get you a proper prescription and course of action." 

*** 

Noctis was practically hovering, all restless and desperate with a need to help when there was nothing he could do. Ignis had informed them both that Prompto's Tab had run out and he'd had a bad reaction to the Tab he'd gotten as a replacement here in Altissia. Gladio would be the one to attend Prompto in his outpatient procedures where he was given injections to rebalance his endocrine system to a stable level; while Ignis would accompany Noctis to the war negotiations with Claustra and Ravus Nox Flauret. 

Prompto thought Gladio probably knew. About him severing the bond, and maybe even however Ignis had chosen to explain what he'd done to Noct. The dark gaze was pitying during his procedures, but there was no anger. No threat for harming his prince. 

After the last course of treatments, the endocrinologist took him into her office to explain the results. She looked calm, but her expression had something grim about the mouth. "We've done what we can to stabilise your hormones since the procedure," she said. "But you must understand this isn't a fix. You will suffer irreparable damage to your reproductive system and cycle because of the shock to your system." 

"I know. They warned me of that," he said quietly. "What's the damage? No more boners?" 

Her lips pursed. "Your sexual function will continue as normal. Your natural cycle and options for managing that are another matter." She eyed him, hard. She'd never made it a secret of her disapproval of his undergoing a severance procedure without proper consultation. "You'll never be able to use a Tab again. The levels of hormones available in the slow release form will be inadequate to adjust your system. Blockers and suppressants are no longer an option. Repressants and regulators - these are available to you but I would strongly recommend against a repressant. Those things should've been outlawed decades ago, in my opinion, and no practitioner worth their salt will prescribe them any more." 

"So, a regulator." He echoed dully. 

"I'll give you a prescription for a combination contraceptive and heat regulator today," she agreed. "But you must understand that your body's ongoing tolerance is going to be increased, and none will likely work on a long-term basis." 

"So what are you actually recommending?" He asked, confused. It sounded like she'd just ruled out every option. 

"Going natural," she replied levelly. "A mate can help you bear through the heats." 

"No," he said firmly. "I can't mate. Not now." 

She harrumphed. "A sexual partner, then. Preferably one long-term with who you can trust in a vulnerable state. I cannot predict how your heats are likely to be from now on, but I suspect they'll be similar to those in Tab withdrawal." 

He gulped. "So… about that regulator?" 

She turned to her computer. "Have you any allergies…?" 

*** 

With the assistance of Tennebrae and Accordo, they had taken back Insomnia and driven the Empire back into Niflheim. Noct, ecstatic to see his father had survived intact, moved back into the Citadel to spend more time with him. 

Prompto quit the Crownsguard and moved into a little apartment. His pension covered the rent and basic necessities like food, but he worked part-time at a camera store to chip slowly away at the credit card debt he was constantly drowning in. 

His first pseudo-heat on the regulators had him hospitalised with a fever and severe dehydration, as well as cardiopulmonary distress. 

Somehow, Ignis was still his next of kin. When he woke up in the hospital, the advisor was sitting quietly in the chair beside his bed. Doing a crossword puzzle. Together with the doctor, they bullied him into a plan of action. He would go to a Heat Clinic monthly on the day before his regulated heat was to start, where he would be safely monitored and maintained during that section of his cycle. He was to have his emergency app set up to send Ignis an SOS message and his coordinates in the - "extremely likely" - case of an unregulated heat. 

"Of course, if you had a mate your heats would be bearable…" 

"No. No mating. I can't." 

Ignis drove him home - in the prince's Audi, Prompto noticed. "You said that before. That you can't mate." He eyed him carefully out the corner of his glasses. "Is this lingering guilt about Caem? I told you the Crownsguard will pay for a therapist." 

"No, it's not that," he said defensively. Although it probably would be that, if it wasn't for… "The procedure. When they severed the bond, my end wasn't untethered." He made a vague gesture towards his heart where he had always visualised the connection. "I've got this carcass of a stump there, probably always will. I literally _can't_ take another mate." 

Ignis looked horrified, but he didn't question any further. "Prompto… never hesitate to call me, okay? I'm as much your friend as ever, and I wish you could trust me." 

He gave a weak smile. "I don't deserve you, Iggy." 

He looked a little mad at that. "You do so," he muttered. "Now, which apartment block is yours…? That one? You can **not** be serious!" 

*** 

It was barely six months before an unregulated heat came - which was way longer than they had predicted it would take, actually. He woke up on what was meant to be a normal day, trembling with need, an ache in his bones, dick hard as a rock, and slick absolutely soaking his sheets. It hurt to move, but he managed to roll over and use his emergency app to send Ignis the agreed upon text. 

He would learn what happened that day afterwards... 

Noctis POV. 

Specs had left his phone in Noct's room as he stepped out to deal with a very persistent councilman. It was Noct that picked it up, annoyed by the non-stop buzzing that lasted way beyond a phone call ever should. 

He hadn't read much before the sender 'Argentum, Prompto' and the first few words: "I need your help" before he was bursting into action. Dragging Gladio with him so the Shield could drive to the coordinates while Noct was too frantic with worry to concentrate on the road. 

Halfway there Ignis called Gladio, irritated: "did you steal my mobile phone?" 

"Yeah, sorry," Gladio answered. "But it was an emergency. You got a message from Prompto and-" 

"Buggering fuck," Ignis swore. "Gladiolus listen to me very carefully. You mustn't go to his apartment. Prompto has entrusted me as his emergency contact for a very particular situation. The condition that he is in… he would not want you to see him so vulnerable." 

"What condition?" Noct asked, leaning desperately forward in his seat. "Specs?" 

"You took _Noct_ with you?" He demanded, agitated. "You have to turn around right now, Gladiolus. As traitorous as it would be for him to be exposed to you in this condition, I can't imagine the damage to his psyche if Noctis were too." 

"Specs, what's going on?" Noct demanded. "Please! You're scaring me!" 

"I cannot tell you, Noctis. I'm bound by confidentiality." He sighed. "I need to get to him as soon as possible. Please respect his wishes, both of you." 

Gladio hung up the phone and pulled the car over onto the side of the road. "Alright. Let's head back to the Citadel." 

" _Gladio_ ," Noct said desperately. "Prompto is in danger! What if by the time Iggy gets there it's _too late_? We have to go to him." 

Gladio's fingers drummed on the steering wheel. "We'll drive to his apartment," he conceded. "Just to keep an eye out. But we **don't** go inside unless we hear something, agreed?" 

Noct nodded. "Okay. Deal." 

Gladio pulled the car back into traffic and continued to follow Iggy's phone to the co-ordinates. They pulled up outside a dilapidated apartment building. It was half-destroyed from the invasion, badly patched up with plywood and tarpaulins. 

Noct swallowed, looked anxiously about the road. "He's been kidnapped, do you think?" 

Gladio grit his jaw. He wound down the window of the car. 

Their resolve to wait lasted less than a minute. They heard Prompto's voice giving such a desperate, all consuming wail. Like he was suffering from pain so unimaginable, so indescribable. Kidnapped and _tortured_ too? 

Noct didn't care what kind of condition they were going to find Prompto in, what Ignis thought was too damning for him or Gladio to see. His best friend was in unbelievable pain, he couldn't just wait and let him suffer. 

He threw his sword through a window and warped after it, leaving Gladio to make his way through the stairwell. A confusing smell clogged his nose and he pinched it shut, but he could still feel it coating his mouth and throat with every inhale. It was overpowering, but it would somehow be nice if it wasn't so strong. It made his head feel funny. 

He pushed his way into the room where the screaming had tapered off into wracked sobs, prepared to kill the sons of bitches hurting his friend. 

But the room inside was empty. It was a one-room apartment, shabby and scorched - the creaky bed against the far wall was the only source of movement. Clothes and sheets were shredded under his fingers - pools of sweat and slick and cum were gathered on the medical-grade plastic mattress protector. Noct gaped, his brain unable to comprehend what he was seeing. 

It wasn't until strong hands were pulling him out and slamming the door shut that he could even _think_. "Prompto!" he cried desperately. He fought back to the door but Gladio held him fast. 

"Noctis, would you calm _down_ for a minute!" he grunted. 

"Calm down? He's dying! He needs _help_!" 

"He's not dying. He's in heat. A really, _really_ bad one, yeah. Probably worst I've ever seen." 

Noct clenched his fists. "What can we do to help?" 

"Cold towels. Ice. Look for Tylenol or Advil. But keep your fucking head on, okay? Fuck, no wonder Iggy warned us off." 

They headed back into the apartment. Gladio immediately grabbed towels to wipe down the mess of the bed, try and make Prompto more comfortable. He pressed an electric thermometer into his ear, holding him still long enough to get a read. "Fuck fuck fuck. Noct?" 

He rushed over with cloths and a bowl of water and a jug of ice and a pack of Tylenol. Prompto writhed into their touch wantonly, spreading his legs as wide as they could go and thrusting his hips up. 

Kinda confirmed it then. His best friend was an omega. 

Loud, frantic footsteps preceded the door being thrust open. Specs stood in the doorway and glared. "I warned you to-" 

"Just shut up, Iggy, and get more ice. If we don't bring his fever down…" 

"Pick him up," Ignis interrupted him. "We need to take him to the Heat Clinic. Every moment wasted could be lethal…" 

Gladio didn't argue, just hefted up the writhing body into his arms and started for the door. Noct followed close behind him, but when Iggy tried to stop him from pursuing he just gave his advisor a commanding glare and shoved past. 

He and Gladio sat in the backseat with Prompto. The blond seemed to calm slightly with alpha skin to press against, his nose crushed into Noct's neck inhaling as if it was the oxygen he needed to breathe. Specs was definitely speeding, but his path was steady and straightforward. 

"You knew about this. You _planned_ for this," Noctis accused his advisor. 

His hands in their driving gloves clenched momentarily around the steering wheel, leather creaking. He took a deep breath and then responded: "yes. All of Prompto's heats are this severe. His scheduled heats are accounted for - he checks into the Heat Clinic the day prior." 

"So why didn't he go _yesterday_?" Noctis snapped, agitated. 

"Because this is unregulated," he answered curtly. "He was warned this would be a likelihood, so of course we had an emergency plan in place." He swung smoothly into the parking space outside a neat and sterile-looking building. There were few cars outside which caused Specs to frown. But he gestured Gladio to carry him. "For Six's _sake_ , Noct. Stop that would you. Give him some space." 

"It's calming him down," he muttered, but reluctantly drew away from Prompto. 

The blond whined, turning towards him to try and get the contact back. " _Noct_ ," he pleaded needily, one hand grasping towards him. 

Ignis quietly stepped between them, blocking the contact, and setting the quick pace that they strode into the clinic. 

There was only the receptionist inside, and she stood up with a startled movement when they came in. "Lord Scientia," she said. "Argentum?" 

"Unregulated heat," he confirmed. "I don't know how long it's been going for." 

"You need to call an ambulance," she said, anxiously. "There are no attendants on shift today." 

"There has to be someone on call," Ignis said with disbelief. 

"There's a nursing strike," she explained. "All of our staff has been called up to the hospital." 

Prompto convulsed, a desperate wail of pain tearing out of his throat. Frantic, Noct stepped up to his side, pressing Prompto into his neck. "Shhh," he soothed. "It's going to be okay." 

The receptionist looked between them and then leaned closer over the countertop. "I could let you into one of the rooms. You know the most natural method of helping him is the best." 

Ignis's jaw was tense. "You must be authorised to administer basic heat aids - to sedate him and bring his temperature down. That ought to be enough to tide him over until we can drive him to the hospital." 

She nodded and led them into one of the heat rooms. She instructed Gladio to lay him on the gurney and strapped his limbs down so she could grab the aid kit. 

Noct just closed his eyes, running his hand through Prompto's hair to try and soothe him. Once the receptionist had left and closed the door, he lifted his eyes to his advisor and shield. "So which one of us is going to do it?" He asked, his voice coming out surprisingly steady. 

"Do what?" Gladio grunted, surprised. 

"Help him through the heat," he said flatly. 

Ignis's nostrils flared. "That is not part of his emergency plan," he answered curtly. "The decided plan is to have his heat attended in a clinic so he doesn't have to suffer through the worst of it." 

"Well he didn't account for the nursing strike," Noct snapped. "What if we take him to the hospital and they can't fit him in? What if he doesn't even _make_ it to the hospital?" He demanded. 

"Noctis…" Ignis said sternly. 

Gladio was quiet when he spoke: "he did address this. After Caem." 

"Pardon?" Ignis said curtly. 

"He said. If there was ever a situation where he had to be fucked or die," Gladio answered carefully. "He gave us 'blanket consent' to do it." 

Noct watch his advisor's jaw clench tightly. "Ah. I recall that conversation now." He turned back to look at Prompto who was weakly struggling against the restraints. "I believe the situation might have changed since then." 

"Let's ask him," the Shield suggested. "He's as clear-headed as he's going to be." 

"He can't mate," Ignis said, the words biting out of his teeth with his reluctance to admit it. 

"He doesn't need a mate to get him through this," Gladio answered. "He just needs someone to fuck him." 

Iggy's jaw clenched again and he turned away. Noct looked back at Gladio. "So you or me then?" 

"It can't be me," he answered apologetically. "Mated alphas can't fuck other omegas - and vice-versa. It's why Igs never offered to help you, back in Caem." 

Noct's eyes widened. "Wait, what?" 

"You need to stop sleeping through your lessons, Noct," Gladio deadpanned. "So it's gotta be you or Iggy, and I think we know he's not comfortable agreeing." 

Noct took a deep breath. "Okay." He stroked his fingers through Prompto's hair. "Okay. I'll do it. I'll help him." At least Prompto wouldn't have to suffer through his heat. 

Ignis sniffed angrily. He batted them both aside and glared until they crossed to the other side of the room. Then he undid Prompto's restraints, gently patting his face until he could get the blond to look him in the eyes. 

"Iggy," Prompto slurred, lips trying to turn up into a smile through a grimace. "S'fucking hot." 

"Yes, quite," Ignis replied, his voice surprisingly gentle. "Listen to me, Prompto. As much as you can." 

"Kay…" His eyes were already starting the glaze over. 

"The clinic can't help you," Iggy explained clearly. "I can take you to the hospital, or you can have someone help you through the heat." 

Prompto's brows furrowed together, like he used to do during a hard math test. Concentrating, on something just out of reach. "Who?" He murmured. 

He took his hand. "Who do you want to help you, Prompto?" 

He slumped into the gurney, eyes fluttering closed. "Noct," he slurred, "just Noct." 

He tried not to be too flattered by that. That of all the people, Prompto would pick him. He felt a stir of interest, stepping closer to the gurney. 

The answer seemed to satisfy Ignis at least. He brushed Prompto's hair back to feel his forehead and stood, turning to Noct seriously. "You can't bond him, Noct. You understand?" 

"Yeah, got it," he said irritably. "You said that." 

"I'm putting a bite guard on him," Ignis said, apparently not convinced by his comment. "You've never been with an O in heat. You don't know the limits of your control." He opened a drawer and pulled out a moldable plastic neck brace to carefully fasted around Prompto's neck. It was loose enough not to choke him, but not flexible enough to let Noct's teeth pierce through to his skin. 

Noct took a deep breath and started undressing, signalling Ignis and Gladio to head out of the room. 

"Noct," Ignis said quietly, from the door. "Be careful with him, okay? You don't… you don't yet know what he's gone through." 

He nodded. "I promise." 

*** 

Prompto woke up feeling better than he ever had. There was a bone-deep satisfaction about him, something inside him calm - like everything was going as it was supposed to. 

With a pleased hum, he stretched into the feeling like a lazy cat. The heavy warmth above him, that he assumed was a blanket, shifted and held him tighter. 

He choked on a breath and threw his eyes open, panic instantly setting in. This was one of the Heat rooms at his clinic. He recognised the room - the bland, sterile walls, the handless white cupboards and drawers; the feel of the gurney beneath him, the quality of the liquid-resistant sheets. 

But the body pressed up against him. That was so incompatible with his usual trips here. As was the satisfied feeling that was being drowned under his panic. 

He knew what had happened. His unregulated heat had been so severe, maybe left for too long unassisted, that the clinic hadn't had any other choice but to get someone in to fuck him. A stranger. Raping him. He deserved it, after what he'd done to Noct - his very own best friend. 

The guilt mixed with the violation and he fought desperately out of the firm grip, gagging over the edge of the gurney. 

A moment later, there was bedpan being held under his face, catching the bile from days of liquid-only supplements and water. Fingers gently stroked through his hair and he wanted to smack them away. 

But a soothing voice sunk through his panic. Because he knew that voice. "Shh, it's okay Prom. Let it out and I'll get you one of the hydralite drinks." 

"Noct?" He choked in disbelief. 

"Yeah, I'm here. Don't worry, I've got you. I'll take care of you." 

When his body had accepted that he didn't have anything it could throw up that was causing the feelings of guilt and panic and disgust, he managed to calm and lie back against the gurney. Noct disappeared for a moment, and came back with a bottle of the clinic's electrolyte mix and a couple packets of nutrition bars. "How much do you remember?" 

He flinched away from Noct's fingers as he took the bottle away from him, raising it to his lips with shaky hands. What did he remember? 

An unregulated heat. It had felt so bad. As bad as the first heat he'd gone through after getting back to Insomnia. He sent Iggy a message. 

But Noct and Gladio had come instead. They'd tried to help him, and their touch had helped as much as it had multiplied the desperation. The need to get fucked by an alpha, or by anything more than his own fingers. 

Iggy had been there, serious and taking charge. Something about a nurse strike? And then the heat had began to cool, just a little bit - and he remembered Ignis asking him. Asking him if he wanted to go to a hospital or… or Noct. He'd chosen Noct. And the prince had agreed, evidently. 

He wanted to puke again. He tugged at the neck brace, feeling like it was choking him. The skin underneath it was bruised, like Noct had been trying to bite but could only press the brace in. 

"Why did you _help me_?" He demanded, his voice twisted with self loathing. 

"You told us you wanted it," the prince answered carefully, almost apologetically. "After Caem. And again, when Iggy asked if you…" 

"No, I know that. But why _would you_?" He snarled back. 

"Prom," he said softly, hurt. "You're my best friend. Of course I'd help you. Why wouldn't I?" 

"You don't know what I've done!" he shouted. He curled up on his side, tucking his knees up to his chest. He couldn't look at Noct. Not while he told him the truth. Noctis would hate him - double over now, since he'd been tricked into helping his rapist. "At Caem. When your rut was… You needed help and Iggy wouldn't… so I…" His breath choked off. "So I…" He couldn't get the words out. 

He flinched when he felt Noct's touch, but it was only running soothing fingers through his hair. "Oh, it was you," he said softly. There was no accusation there. If Prompto didn't know any better he'd think Noct almost sounded relieved. "I thought it was Specs for ages. But a few days ago, Gladio told me mated Os can't be with another A. But I remembered fucking _someone_ \- I was kinda anxious to ask who, since I figured it was some random O they'd found to help me." He took a deep breath and sighed it out calmly. "But it was you? Six, you can't imagine how much of a relief that is." 

"A _relief_?" Prompto choked in disbelief. 

"Duh. It's _you_ , Prom. I trust you, and I love you man. You're definitely in my top 3 picks of people I'd want helping me through an errant rut." The voice was so matter of fact. So calm. The fingers in his hair were still so gentle. 

He choked, fighting away from him so he could use the bedpan again. When he lay back on the pillows, Noct was sitting on the edge of the bed. Prompto studied his face - trying to find something in his expression other than concern. Where was the betrayal? The disgust? The violation? 

"Why don't you hate me?" He demanded. "Why are you okay with this?" 

Confusion puckered his eyebrows. "'This'? Helping you through your heat?" 

"No! Me _raping_ you in Caem!" 

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Noct said, and there was the horror he had been expecting. "You can't just slap _that_ label on it, Prom! Shiva's _tits_." Or...not. 

"But I did!" He sobbed, shaking with months of pent up guilt and self-loathing. "You were out of your mind with it, you couldn't consent-" 

"I was in _rut_ , the law's a little bendy-" 

"Fuck the law, Noct! Morally, I ra-" 

"Don't say it again, Prompto, Six! Of course you didn't!" 

"You didn't want it! You didn't want _help_! You already rejected Gladio's offers to-" 

"To get me a random O or to volunteer himself! I didn't want either of _those_ choices-" 

"I didn't even try to ask you! I just climbed on your dick and-" 

"If I was as bad as you were yesterday before we got here, I probably couldn't even understand the question anyway-" 

"Exactly my point! I-g" 

"Do you think I _you know_ 'd you the last few days?" 

"Of course not! I gave _consent-_ " 

"And I would've if I could!" 

"I tricked you into thinking I was Iggy-" 

"Okay that's a little sketch, but it doesn't matter. I would've been fine if you'd come to me as yourself-" 

"You **mated** me!" 

Their rapid fire back-and-forth argument came to a violent stop, stunned silence and stillness filling the room. 

Noct was staring at him in disbelief. "I… I _what_?" He asked, voice barely louder than a whisper. 

Prompto swallowed the disgust crawling up his throat. He turned his head slightly, pulling at the skin of his neck and collarbone to show the barely-there white scars of Noct's teeth. "You bit me," he said quietly, "and you called me Specs and you mated me." 

"But I…" One of his hands grasped at his chest, as if searching for the tether of a bond. "But I never felt you." 

He took a shaky breath, turning on his side again. "I pinched it right away," he explained. "And then… in Altissia. I went to a clinic and got it severed." 

"You **what**?" Noct demanded. And there was the anger, the disgust, the fury he had been expecting at the beginning of this conversation. "You **severed** our mating bond?" 

"Well I wasn't going to ask you!" he snapped back defensively. "That would involve explaining what I did to you at Caem!" 

"Okay, _now_ I feel violated!" Noct answered, but he sounded frustrated and angry more than anything. "You can't just make a decision like that! A bond involves **two** people? How did you even…?" 

He licked his lips anxiously. "There was a clinic. In Altissia. They take care of these things." 

"Ifrit's _dick_ \- only in Accordo!" he said derisively. "I can't _believe_ you would-!" There was a pause. "I… That's why you got so sick, wasn't it? That's why you had to have those emergency endo appointments in Altissia." 

"Yeah," he admitted quietly. 

"I knew it wasn't a Tab thing!" Noct cried, "I was positive you'd got a new one just before we left Insomnia. You should've had months left! I was starting to think you'd gone to get them tested to make sure they were safe for _me_." There was a pause. "Fucking _hell_ , Prom. You nearly died." 

He shrugged. "I deserve it. For what I did to you…" 

"Don't even start that again," Noct said, irritable. "You didn't do anything at Caem I haven't done to you repeatedly over the past few days." He stood up, paced a bit, and then came to sit back down. "Is that why Specs put the biteguard on you? So I wouldn't mate you again?" 

"Probably so you wouldn't try." Prompto sighed and sat up, unwrapping a nutrient bar and chewing as he pieced together his words any more. "I can't mate anyone else. Not after… not after Altissia." 

"Fuck," Noct said. "Am I-?!" 

"No. You're fine. Your tether would've fallen away naturally in the month following. Mine…" He rubbed at his chest, as if it was a physical ache he could make go away. "The tether is still there, hooked in for life, attached to a dead stump of a bond. You'll be able to mate again, Noct. Don't worry about that." 

There was a silence, and then Noct came to sit next to him, so they were both facing the same section of drawers. "And these heats? They're because of the severance?" 

He nodded tiredly. "Uh-Huh. Fucked up my mating cycle real good." 

Noct shifted awkwardly. "Will you… next month. Will you let me help you? I don't know if I can deal with knowing you're suffering like that because you're alone." 

He chewed and swallowed to give himself time to process that. To process the offer, the thought that Noct even wanted to help him. After everything that had come out today. "I don't know, Noct. It's not so bad when I get in early. I mostly just sleep through the whole thing." Granted, he woke up feeling like he'd been hit by a truck and driven over repeatedly - nothing like the almost bliss in his body after being fucked through it. 

"Please?" He said quietly. "If not regularly, what if you have another unscheduled one again…?" 

Prompto shifted to look at him. Wasn't sure how to read the emotions in Noct's gaze, other than just _genuine._ "I…" He turned to look down at his bare toes, hanging over the edge of the gurney. "I'll think about it. Okay?" 

"Okay." 

The End


End file.
